Chapter 98: A Matter of Life and Death

In the office of the American channel of the Discovery Channel, senior producer Tom Beattie opened a package from Los Angeles, taking out a videotape and a letter.

Tom Beattie set the videotape aside and opened the letter.

The package was sent by his former colleague at the American Broadcasting Company, Garcia Rodriguez. Garcia had mentioned the package before. He discovered someone was selling a videotape at the St. Denis Film Festival. It was filmed by three university students who went on an adventure to Maryland but went missing. Search parties only found their belongings and the camera left behind. However, the videotape was partially damaged and undergoing repair. Garcia hoped this would help the missing students.

Tom Beattie instinctively felt something was off, but his first thought wasn't to verify its authenticity; it was whether this edited footage had any broadcast value.

Many documentaries on the Discovery Channel were specifically produced for that purpose, with a fair share of embellishments.

Tom Beattie approached his workstation and played the videotape. The footage began with a subtitle: "Recovered from a lost camera in the forest..."

Then, three university students were seen questioning a town resident. The resident frequently mentioned the nearby legend of Blair Witch, noting the numerous disappearances in the town over the years.

The legend of witches was widespread in the Western world, and Tom Beattie had heard many stories about them, especially in the eastern United States, where there were numerous longstanding witch tales.

This footage had potential!

Tom Beattie quickly judged it could be appealing, especially considering the widespread folklore about witches.

The disappearance of three university students while exploring the secrets of a witch had significant intrigue.

If there were issues later on? Tom Beattie didn't believe these three had disappeared because of a witch. He even thought the videotape itself was a bit problematic.

But Garcia Rodriguez had specifically visited him. Besides, the videotape itself was quite intriguing. It would be a waste not to exploit it.

Being able to repay a favor while attracting viewers was ideal.

As for authenticity...

Tom Beattie quickly decided: if it turned out to be fake, they could run another program later, one exposing the falsehoods behind these legends.

The videotape, only five or six minutes long, depicted the three university students disappearing into the woods. At the end, there was a website address.

As a senior producer at the American channel, he wielded considerable power.

"Haart, come here." Tom Beattie called his assistant and handed him the videotape. "Take this to the Fifth Program Group and tell them to air it this week."

His assistant, called Haart, took the videotape and promptly went to the Fifth Program Group.

Tom Beattie then re-read Garcia Rodriguez's letter and, afterward, went to a quiet corner of the corridor to call Garcia. They talked for a long time, agreeing to meet up in Los Angeles during their next business trip.

On an ordinary weekend, Kirkland finished dinner, went outside for a walk, then returned home and turned on the television, tuned in to his favorite Discovery Channel, and waited for the new episode of "Discovery Investigation" to start.

It was an exploratory program. Previous episodes covered the Bermuda Triangle, Caribbean pirate treasures, ferocious sharks, and Amazonian piranhas, among other topics, which were quite appealing.

Because he liked the program, Kirkland had looked it up online. The show's viewership was quite good; shortly after its debut, it attracted two million viewers.

"Hello, everyone, I'm Carrie Byron. Welcome to this episode of 'Discovery Investigation'..."

When it was time for the show to start, the host, a blonde woman wearing a cowboy hat, stood in front of a dense forest. "Look behind me, this forest is marked by an ancient monument with a warning."

The camera zoomed in, and the inscription on the monument could faintly be seen: "Beware of witches, stay away from the forest!"

Pointing to the inscription, the host said, "This monument was erected in 1824, with the name of the first mayor of Brumsville, Maryland, John Seaton. Many legends along the East Coast claim that due to the persecution by the church, many European witches fled to North America during colonization, hiding in the mountainous forests of the East Coast. To this day, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, among others, have many names and stories of witches, among which the Blair Witch is particularly well-known."

Seeing this, Kirkland was immediately intrigued. This episode was clearly about witches. Although he lived in the West, he had heard plenty of European and American witch tales since childhood.

Even most of his childhood memories of horror were dominated by stories of witches.

His grandmother once said that when his great-grandfather lived in the Midwest, he served as a sheriff in a small town. A gypsy woman fell in love with a wealthy merchant's daughter in town. The merchant despised the gypsies and sent men to kill the gypsy woman. Unexpectedly, the gypsy woman was a witch and cursed the merchant before dying. The merchant's family all fell ill and died one after another...

This led him to believe for a long time that gypsies were all bad people.

"The legend of the Blair Witch is ancient and has attracted the attention of many."

The words on the TV brought Kirkland's attention back to the program: "Recently, we received a videotape. Someone found a camera and some personal items in a dense forest, later identified as the belongings of three missing university students. According to the last person who saw these students, they were on a quest to explore the secrets of the Blair Witch."

The host's speech sped up: "As the videotape is still undergoing urgent repairs, we can only edit out the intact parts for now..."

The program switched to a footage from the videotape, with severe camera shaking.

"In October 1994, three film students went missing in the forests near Brudzwill, Maryland. They were filming a documentary about the local ancient legend, 'Blair Witch.' A year later, their backpacks were found, containing audio tapes, Hi-8 cameras, and 16mm cameras that clearly recorded the final journey of these three individuals..."

The tape wasn't long, only about five or six minutes, but Kirkland widened his eyes. It was definitely filmed by the three university students using a DV camera. There was no mistaking it. They had ventured out to seek the Blair Witch?

Kirkland thought of the witch stories and couldn't help but shiver. Going into the woods to find a witch, wasn't that asking for trouble?

Then, another thought came to mind. These three university students disappeared? Were they found now? Even if they weren't found alive, couldn't they find their bodies?

Could they have encountered the witch?

Kirkland quickly made the sign of the cross on his chest.

The program was still airing, but Kirkland's mind was filled with thoughts of witches and the three university students. After all, it was a matter of life and death.

The names of the witch and the three university students kept swirling in his mind all night, causing Kirkland to lose focus during his date the next day.

"What's wrong with you?" his girlfriend, Harley, asked with concern.

Kirkland told her the truth: "I watched a program on the Discovery Channel last night. Three university students went into the woods to find a witch and disappeared."

"Really?"

"Should be." Kirkland recalled yesterday's program and said, "Someone found the footage they filmed themselves with a DV camera and sent it to the Discovery Channel."

Harley was very curious. "Did the witch kill them? My father told me about witches; some of them eat people."

Kirkland shrugged. "Don't know. The program didn't reveal much information. Poor kids."

After a day's date, when Harley went home, she met Lisa, their neighbor. As they chatted and walked towards the community, for some reason, Harley brought up what Kirkland had told her in the morning.

"Yesterday on TV, they said three university students went to find a witch and disappeared, no signs of life or death."

It was a religious country, and materialism was not mainstream. Lisa immediately asked, "Really? Which TV program? There can't really be witches in the world, right?"